Sunflowers
by Luddles
Summary: Reno has a conversation with Rude that proves to be quite eye-opening. Elena finds a bouquet of flowers on her desk, along with an unsigned note. Connection? Perhaps. Oneshot, Reno/Elena


**Disclaimer: This is a fanfiction, I don't own any of the characters and I don't get any money for this.**

**A/N: …I don't even know what this is. But it's one of my favorite pairings and I think it's pretty cute even if it is kind of subtle anyways.**

**I really enjoyed writing Elena being all "OMG, TSENG" though. Probably more than I should.**

**Sunflowers**

"The heck does she see in him, anyway?"

"…"

"I mean, he's good-looking and all, but so am I… okay, maybe less so. But seriously, that guy's such a stick-in-the mud I don't think looking like that does much for him anyways!"

"…"

Sometimes, talking to Rude was like talking to a wall. A wall that occasionally grunted and readjusted his sunglasses, and, when Reno _really_ started rambling, told him to get back to his paperwork or Tseng would never send him on another mission where he got to blow something up again. But it was a good thing, because Reno could normally talk as long as he wanted and not feel crazy, while not having to listen to anyone's stupid advice.

"He has no personality whatsoever, too. So what if he's foreign! …Girls do find foreign guys hot, right?"

Rude grunted, and it sounded affirmative. Reno knew he was right anyway.

"Whatever. He's completely unromantic, though. Girls don't like that."

Rude raised an eyebrow, which clearly said 'Reno, you're not known for being hugely romantic either'. "I'm more romantic than _he_ is!"

"Reno?" Tseng stuck his head in the door and Reno, who was already angry, started steadily going as red as his hair. When his tattoos started blending in with his skin, Rude yanked on his ponytail to get him to finally exhale. "Oh." Tseng sighed, looking a little relieved about something. "It sounded like you were talking to yourself. I was hoping you hadn't seriously lost it." He closed the door to Rude's office and left.

"See!" Reno exploded. "He acts like _I'm _crazy! He's the one obsessed with that stupid yoga stuff and always being all Zen and crap!"

"Maybe if you calmed down, she would find you more attractive."

Reno blinked, staring at Rude, almost not believing the fact that he'd actually given his input on Reno's personal problems. "What?"

"You heard me."

"Oh, so you're on his side, aren't you?"

"No."

Reno groaned and dropped his head onto the desk, sending a few papers fluttering to the ground. "Ugh, that's it, isn't it? He's chill and collected all the time, and me? I'm a total spaz, always jumping all over the place and shooting people. And being noisy. And talking when I'm not supposed to. And spying on people when I'm also not supposed to."

"And making undue advances on Elena."

"So you're saying I should stop hitting on her?"

"Maybe."

Reno leaned back and spun his chair around twice before finally speaking again. "Nah. I won't do that. I'm not going to act just like him just because I know she's got an enormous crush on him. But she does get really ticked off when I… what was it you said? Make undue advances?" He spun around another time for good measure and then folded a very official-looking form into a paper airplane.

"Just try being polite for once."

Reno looked at Rude like he had grown horns out the top of his bald head. "Me? Polite? Since when has anyone ever heard of me being polite!"

"Just because people don't expect you to do it doesn't mean you shouldn't."

That was probably the longest sentence he'd ever heard Rude say.

And, much to Reno's chagrin, it was the truth.

"Fine, I'll be gentlemanly, hold the door for her, stop making obnoxious comments, whatever. But if it doesn't work, I'll know who to blame." Reno stood and left Rude's office, making sure to unfold the paper airplane he'd made before going. Rude didn't like it when he left those lying around. Or when he threw them at the Vice-President. Rufus usually deserved it though.

Elena was a little surprised when she came into her office and found a vase of flowers on her desk. They were bright yellow sunflowers, standing out like a spotlight against the grayish-white walls of her office. She checked them for a note, hoping with all her racing heart that they were from a certain… _someone_. There was a small card sitting underneath the vase and she tugged it out, ignoring her name written in scrawling handwriting on the front and flicking it open.

"_Hope you like these as much as I like you."_

That was all it said.

Elena squealed in delight and dropped the note. It _had_ to be from _him_. Who else would have sent it to her? "_Tseng_," she sighed dreamily, sinking into her chair. She was utterly thrilled at the gesture, exhilaration flooding her chest as she glanced at the flowers again and giggled girlishly. To think that he actually would have done something like that… he didn't seem to be the romantic type at all, which made Elena feel particularly special.

She sighed again, plucking up the card and turning it over just to read it again. Just to look at those words, meant for her and only her, from the man she'd been enthralled with ever since joining the Turks.

Until she realized something.

Elena made some kind of choked squawking noise that probably sounded like a chocobo being strangled and dropped the card.

Somehow, she had completely missed that the front of it said _"Laney"_.

It was from _Reno_, not Tseng.

And somehow, although she was duly heartbroken that the bouquet wasn't from her crush, it seemed all the sweeter that Reno, the obnoxious, rude, disgusting man who always teased her and was generally annoying, had done something that made her so happy. Granted, 90% of that happiness had come because she thought they were from Tseng, but… the flowers had brightened her day anyways.

She headed to Reno's office.

"Hey, the flowers weren't a joke or something, were they?" She was all too used to getting sucked into stupid jokes from Reno, and thinking he was being truthful only to later find out that he'd been playing a prank on her the whole time.

"'Course not," Reno said, going a little red and turning so that she couldn't see his face, just sitting in his chair facing away from her. "Did you like them?"

"Um… yes," Elena replied.

Reno got out of the chair, turned around, and beamed at her with a smile more sincere than any she'd ever seen on his face. "Good."


End file.
